Although bitcoin has taken some major steps toward mainstream adoption over the past year, the cryptocurrency’s user base is still largely dominated by tech-savvy individuals who see digital currencies as an important innovation. However, Bitcoin Direct is looking to change the cryptocurrency’s image by making Mike Tyson its poster boy. The former heavyweight champion is apparently lending his name and face to an ATM that will allow users to covert their cash into bitcoins. [Benzinga]

42% of IT Decision Makers Aren’t Moving on EMV Transition

Many businesses are not prepared for the upcoming October 1st deadline for processing chip-embedded credit cards. A large portion of IT decision makers–those involved with deciding the technological state of a company–still have not made plans to change their card processing infrastructures. The survey revealed 42% of decision makers have no plans for switching to EMV technology at this time. A majority of respondents indicated little concern for the magnitude of risk associated with missing the liability shift deadline. In fact, 58% of businesses said the liability risks to come after the deadline “will have limited or no impact on their company’s bottom line.” [LowCards.com]

Hobby Lobby Sues over Card Fees

Hobby Lobby is fighting Visa and MasterCard in court over what it claims are excessive fees for accepting debit and credit cards at its stores. Hobby Lobby, which has more than 600 stores across the United States, claims in its lawsuit that Visa and MasterCard’s near total dominance of the payment processing market gives them the ability to fix prices. [The Oklahoman]

Africa is usually seen as a continent facing many obstacles, such as unreliable electricity, limited internet coverage, poverty and weak governance. However, it is a fertile ground for innovation, and the fact that in 2012 the number of mobile phone subscriptions exceeded that of US or EU proves this. In some African countries people have greater access to mobile phones than to clean water. The number of people with mobile connection across the continent has grown from 778 million in 2013 to a projected 1 billion by the end of the year. [The Market Mogul]

CurrentC Payment App Set to Launch Next Month

CurrentC, often coined as the “Retailer’s Answer to Apple Pay,” is set to hit stores next month. The payment app has been in development for three years. It was the brainchild of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a consortium of retailers including Walmart, Target and Best Buy. CurrentC will deduct money from a customer’s checking account, not a credit card, saving the retailers the 2-3% typically charged as the interchange or swipe fee. It will scan paycodes for purchases rather than relying on near field communications (NFC). [LowCards.com]

42% of US iPhone 6 Owners Use Apple Pay in May and June

More than two-fifths of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users reported having used Apple Pay between the end of May and mid-June, with 84% making more than three in-store transactions. Nearly a quarter (24%) used it in more than six stores during the same period and 70% say they are more likely to choose a store that accepts the mobile payment service. [NFC World]

This Court Ruling Just Made it Easier to Sue Companies that Get Hacked

Hackers are breaking into major companies and making off with hoards of customer data, including credit cards, at an alarming rate. But one minor consolation for the companies, so far, has been a legal rule that shields them from damages. Until now. In a ruling causing a stir on legal blogs, the influential 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last week reinstated a lawsuit against Neiman Marcus over a 2013 data breach in which hackers stole credit card information from as many as 350,000 customers. The unanimous 3-judge ruling, issued in Chicago, is a big deal because it lowers the bar for consumers who want to sue over such breaches. [Fortune]

Subway to Add PayPal as a Payment Option

Subway announced that it will integrate PayPal as a payment option later this year in more than 27,000 U.S. locations. Paydiant, a mobile wallet developer PayPal acquired last year, originally built Subway’s mobile app and released an update earlier this year. The app enables users to place mobile orders. PayPal also will be integrated as a payment choice for online orders. [Mobile Payments Today]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.68%, slightly above last week’s average of 14.67%. Six months ago, the average was 14.41%. One year ago, the average was 14.49%. [LowCards.com]

Ashley Madison, the adultery website which uses the tagline “Life is short. Have an affair,” confirmed that it suffered a “criminal intrusion” into its system which could expose private details of as many as 37 million members as well as private information from the website’s company, Avid Life Media, which runs several similar sites. [ABC News]

Breach Hits Major Retail Photo Sites

CVS, Rite Aid, Sam’s Club, Costco, Walmart Canada and several other retail chains have suspended their online photo services following a possible breach of customer credit card information that resulted from a cyberattack against a third-party service provider, PNI Digital Media. Staples, which was the target of a major hack last year, acquired the company a year ago. [Credit Union Times]

Apple Patent Targets Ads Based on Credit Card Balance

Apple may soon be taking personalized ads to a whole new level if its pending patent application gets approved. The application outlines the possibility for Apple to check the balance on your credit card in order to push ads your way that it knows you can afford. The new platform would be an opt-in service, so Apple would not check your account information without your permission. But after that, the program could assess the current status of your debit and credit cards to determine which ads are best for you. [LowCards.com]

Citibank Must Pay $700 Million to Consumers for Illegal Credit Card Practices

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Citibank to reimburse about nine million consumers for deceptive marketing and incorrect charges associated with credit card add-on services. These holders of Citi credit cards–or those of a Citi subsidiary that issues store-brand cards for Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s–were victims of misleading sales tactics, the CFPB alleges. In many cases, confusing text on credit card applications got consumers to sign up for extra debt-protection services they didn’t necessarily want to pay for. In some cases, says the CFPB, Citi charged customers for benefits, like credit monitoring, that they weren’t actually receiving. [Time]

A security flaw in contactless bank cards means they can be “easily and heaply” exploited for fraud, a leading consumer group has warned. Tests showed that thieves can steal the details of debit and credit cards using easily obtained scanning equipment, enabling them to launch an online “shopping spree” with someone else’s money. The group tested contactless payments with six debit cards and four credit cards–and the scanners were able to extract key details including card numbers and expiry dates every time. [London Evening Standard]

Google Testing “Buy Button” on Mobile Search Ads

Google unveiled a new feature called “Purchases on Google.” Consumers now see a “Buy” button on a limited number of mobile search results. If they click on the button, they are taken to a page where they can purchase that item. The merchants will handle the actual transaction, and the pages will be hosted by Google. Google will test these buy buttons with approximately 12 merchants over the next two weeks. The plan is to then expand to most of the United States by 2016. [LowCards.com]

Amazon Launches Prime Members Credit Card with 5% Cash Back

Amazon increasingly sees Prime as its future. This subscription service costs consumers $99 per year and offers a myriad of benefits like free two-day shipping, streaming video, Kindle rentals, and now 5% cash back with an Amazon store card. The retailer has quietly rolled out this new Prime card without so much as a press release. Amazon will probably start pushing it soon, though. This is a store card, so it won’t work anywhere other than Amazon. However, the new Prime card makes the process more seamless with an automatic 5% statement credit on all Amazon purchases (not just those eligible for Amazon Prime). [Geek]

9 Things That Surprisingly Won’t Affect Your Credit

There are a lot of things that have traditionally not made their way onto your credit report, even though you might have assumed (or hoped) they did. Responsible practices like always paying your rent on time basically go unrecognized. On the flip side, there’s some negative information that you might think could harm your credit but actually has no bearing on it. So what’s left out of the traditional credit score equation? Here are some of the more surprising things. [Forbes]

Mobile Payments: Moving Towards a Trillion Dollar Industry

Five years ago, the notion of paying for items via your smartphone was seen as something of a novelty. Mobile purchases are now at an all-time high and this trend is predicted to continue over the next few years. Estimates regarding the number of annual mobile payments vary between experts, but the majority agree that spend will increase by around $300 billion. According to Statista, mobile spending in 2015 will hit $431 billion globally, but by 2017, this figure will increase to more than $720 billion. [The Coin Telegraph]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.67%, slightly above last week’s average of 14.65%. Six months ago, the average was 14.41%. One year ago, the average was 14.49%. [LowCards.com]

It’s all in the cards–the days of cash and carry are long gone. That’s the finding of a recent survey that asked more than 500 people about their preferred payments methods. When people pay in person, 42% use debit cards and 38% use credit cards, while only 17% use cash and 3% use checks. Online, the breakdown was 50% credit cards, 30% debit cards and 20% PayPal or similar bank account-linked services. The respondents who prefer debits cards said they are convenient and allow them “to use real money.” In the case of credit cards, respondents said they want rewards points. [The New York Post]

Are Millennials Not Interested in Mobile Payments?

A new study from Trustev suggests there might be some issues holding the rise of mobile payments back a bit. 91% of Millennials had at least one debit card, and routinely used them. 80%, meanwhile, had a standard credit card. When it comes to online payments, the older Millennials–between 25 and 34–were more likely to turn to a credit card, and 67 percent of the younger Millennials were following suit. What’s more, alternative payment systems weren’t unknown to the Millennial crowd, just often unused. 66% of Millennials reported having at least one payment app installed-be it Venmo, PayPal, or something else, but these apps weren’t often used. Bitcoin was also sufficiently unappealing. While 63% have heard of it, just 12% have actually used it. [Payment Week]

Apple Pay Brings Contactless iPhone Payments to U.K.

Apple is making the U.K. the first market outside the U.S. for its digital-wallet system as the company fights for a place in the electronic-payments industry. The Apple Pay service was made available at 250,000 retail locations in Britain on Tuesday. The U.K. is an important market for Apple because the level of contactless penetration in cards and accepting terminals far exceeds that of the U.S. [Bloomberg]

Wal-Mart Canada is contacting customers who may have been affected by a potential data breach of its photo website. The company said it was recently informed of a “potential compromise of customer credit card data” of its photo site. Wal-Mart said it has no reason to believe that in-store, Walmart.ca or Walmart.com transactions had been affected. The photo centre website–since disabled–is operated by a third-party, PNI Digital Media, which is owned by Staples. [The Star]

Samsung Starts Testing its Apple Pay Rival in Korea

Samsung is inviting select S6 and S6 Edge owners in Korea to participate in the first public trial of Samsung Pay before a wider rollout kicks off in the coming weeks. Samsung Pay combines NFC, which is used by Apple Pay and Google Wallet, with technology that the company picked up with its acquisition of LoopPay. This allows Samsung’s phones to communicate with magnetic stripe card readers, making Samsung Pay instantly compatible with most payment terminals you’ll find at retailers today. [The Verge]

Americans Would Rather Have Nude Photos Stolen Than Financial Data

According to a new survey from MasterCard, 77% of Americans worry about the security of their personal information. 62% worry about their emails getting hacked, and 46% worry about being pickpocketed. A staggering 92% of participants said they take precautions to protect their financial information, but 46% say they rarely change the passwords on their accounts. 39% reported they use public networks to check financial accounts from their phones, which makes them far more vulnerable to hacking than checking the information on a secure personal network. [LowCards.com]

Cyber-Crime Hits Napa County Wineries

As many as 250,000 customers who used their credit cards at dozens of Napa Valley wineries this April had their financial information and personal data stolen by a cyber-thief. The intruder gained access to customer names, credit/debit card numbers, related billing addresses and any dates of birth from winery clients using eCellar Systems created by Missing Link Networks of Calistoga. [Napa Valley Register]

Senate Banking puts CFPB and Cordray in the Crosshairs

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday for his twice-a-year legislative grilling, where lawmakers raised ongoing concerns about the bureau’s massive data collection, its management, its lack of oversight and its overspending. Chairman Richard Shelby noted that the CFPB has grown to over 1,450 employees and it has recently expanded enforcement actions to cover telecom companies and broadened its authority over the auto finance industry. Shelby also raised concerns about the CFPB’s spending and lack of budgetary oversight. [Housing Wire]

Do You Have to Respond to a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Card?

If you own a credit card, chances are you’ve experienced the disquiet that comes from an alert saying someone may have stolen your card. Dealing with fraud alerts can be time-consuming, so you may be wondering if you have to respond to it every time, or whether your card company can just take care of the problem itself. After all, you’re shouldn’t be liable for charges that you didn’t actually make. [Time]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.65%, the same as last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.44%. One year ago, the average was 14.49%. [LowCards.com]

As the war to own the digital wallet continues, American Express is joining the battle with Express Checkout, a new way to pay using your AmEx card online. AmEx Express Checkout is similar to the way PayPal works. AmEx will autofill all the shipping and billing information, and the card member’s account information is transferred to the merchant securely, says AmEx. As a security protection, each time card members click on the AmEx Express Checkout button on a merchant site, they will be required to login. [Fortune]

MasterCard Pilots Pay-By-Selfie Facial Authentication

MasterCard has decided to pilot a program that allows customers to authenticate payment by a “selfie” when making online purchases. At checkout, users will be asked to hold up their phone and snap a photo, after which facial recognition software will either allow or disallow the transaction. The facial recognition scan won’t be saved on MasterCard servers; rather, it’s converted into a code for secure transit, which can’t be used to reconstruct a picture of the user’s face once created. [Info Security]

JPMorgan to Pay $166 Million Over Debt Collection Abuses

JPMorgan Chase will pay $166 million and change credit card collection practices after regulators found that the bank used abusive tactics to collect debts. Of the penalties, $136 million settles claims brought by the CFPB, 47 states and the District of Columbia. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $30 million penalty in a related action. [Bloomberg]

Consumers Not Enthusiastic about Digital Wallets

Americans are simply not that enthusiastic about the digital wallet. Despite the development of Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and a number of other independent digital wallet services, Americans aren’t taking to virtual payments as expected, according to a new study from Gallup. The reports showed 30% of fully engaged consumers used their digital wallets at every possible opportunity during the last 30 days, compared to 12% of indifferent users and 2% of disengaged consumers. [LowCards.com]

EU Files Antitrust Charges Against MasterCard Over Card Payment Costs

The European Union on Thursday filed formal charges against MasterCard, accusing the company of violating the bloc’s antitrust laws by artificially raising the cost of card payments. The charges, which follow a two-year investigation, are the latest step in a series of legal battles between the EU and U.S.-based credit-card companies over fees. The probes could lead to fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue, or $950 million for MasterCard, and require the companies to change their business practices. [The Wall Street Journal]

Apple Has Filed a Patent for a New Feature that Could Kill Off Mobile Payment Apps

Apple Pay is missing one essential feature that it needs to stop people using other mobile payments apps: person to person transactions. The company just filed a new patent that will let people send money to one another directly from their iPhone’s Wallet, which has replaced the Passbook app. [Business Insider]

Credit Card Breach at a Zoo Near You

Service Systems Associates, a company that serves gift shops and eateries at zoos and cultural centers across the United States, has acknowledged a breach of the processing systems of its debit and credit cards. Several banking industry sources told KrebsOnSecurity they have detected a pattern of fraud on cards that were all used at zoo gift shops operated by Denver-based SSA. [Krebs on Security]

Gen X, Baby Boomers See Credit Cards as a Lifeline

Generation X, weighed down by debt, is unfortunately growing accustomed to the burden. Gen Xers–and their older, Baby Boomer peers–see credit cards as a lifeline, according to a new study. Of the 1,000 Gen Xers age 35 to 48, and 1,000 Boomers ages 49-67 surveyed, 48% say that credit cards now function as a financial survival tool. [USA Today]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.65%, slightly above last week’s average of 14.62%. Six months ago, the average was 14.46%. One year ago, the average was 14.48%. [LowCards.com]

Elizabeth Warren would like to change the way you bank. Her backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to begin offering budget-priced banking services to U.S. savers could remake the American landscape regardless. In May, USPS admitted to losing $1.5 billion in its most recent fiscal quarter. Last month, though, the USPS Office of Inspector General refloated an idea to close the Post Office’s budget gap. Simply put, the Post Office should turn itself into a bank. It would begin expanding the kinds of financial services it offers, permitting “unbanked” and “underbanked” customers to take out small loans, cash checks, pay bills, and open savings accounts–all at their local post office. According to the Inspector General, entering this market could help USPS reap as much as $10 billion in annual revenue–and close its budget gap with a resounding snap. [Daily Finance]

Card Breach at Trump Hotel Properties

The Trump Hotel Collection, a string of luxury hotel properties tied to business magnate and now Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, appears to be the latest victim of a data breach on credit cards, according to data shared by several U.S.-based banks. Sources have little doubt that Trump properties in several U.S. locations–including Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York–are dealing with a card breach that appears to extend back to at least February 2015. [Krebs On Security]

Tourists Are Left in Lurch by Greek Crisis

Greece’s unexpected call for a July 5 referendum on the economic policies creditors want–which could push the country into bankruptcy and out of the euro–is catching up with tourists. Automated-teller machines are running dry and many businesses are no longer accepting credit cards. Foreign visitors who find themselves unable to pay for services or meals may have to cut vacations short, just as Greece’s vital summer tourism season gets into full swing. [The Wall Street Journal]

Feds Take Action Against Sellers of Non-Existent Credit or Identity Theft Monitoring Services

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an action against two “credit card add-on product vendors” for billing customers for add-on services they never actually received. The two companies, Intersections, Inc. and Affinion Group Holdings, Inc., must pay almost $9.6 million combined in consumer refunds and penalties. The CFPB said that under the proposed consent orders, Affinion would pay $6.8 million to cover refunds for eligible consumers plus an additional $1.9 million in civil penalties, and Intersections would pay $55,000 for refunds and $1.2 million in penalties. [Consumer Affairs]

Barclay Launches Apple Pay Competitor In UK

Barclaycard is trying to beat the competition by releasing a contactless payment system ahead of Apple Pay’s UK launch next month. The mobile payment solution, known as bPay, comes in three forms, allowing customers to pay for transactions on the go via a wristband, sticker or key fob. Currently, Barclays is the only major bank not to support Apple Pay in the UK. Any Visa or MasterCard registered in the UK can be paired with the corresponding bPay smartphone app–not just cards from Barclaycard. [LowCards.com]

Got a New Plenti Card? Better Check the Fine Print

The new Plenti card from American Express promises to bring order to chaos by combining all your loyalty programs–and the points you earn—from hundreds of retailers into one. But there’s a big catch to that claim that’s easy to miss: while you can earn Plenti points at 10 bricks-and-mortar retailers, including AT&T, Macy’s and Rite Aid, and from hundreds of on-line retailers, right now you can only redeem them at four–Macy’s, Rite Aid, Exxon and Mobil stations. [NBC News]

Most Americans Want More Information about Data Breaches

A staggering number of American consumers want to know more about data breaches than what companies have provided them, according to new research from the Zix Corporation. 84% of Americans said the best way for retailers to maintain consumer trust after a data breach is to immediately send out a notification and keep consumers informed throughout the investigation process. 92% said they believe a company should have to report a data breach to their entire customer base, no matter the size of the breach. [LowCards.com]

J.P. Morgan Expands Prepaid Card Uses

Under an agreement the bank has reached with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, J.P. Morgan Chase will give customers of its Liquid prepaid debit card access to online bill payment and let them use the bank’s person-to-person payment service. [The Wall Street Journal]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.62%, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.45%. One year ago, the average was 14.52%. [LowCards.com]

A recent survey shows that when it comes to digital banking trends, consumers are more addicted to online banking sites than mobile apps, but that the trend is slowly shifting. The survey showed that 33% more consumers are using their mobile device to access a mobile banking app, compared with a year ago. But online banking is seeing stronger growth too, as that figure is up 35% on the year. And, interestingly, 16% more consumers have visited a bank. [PYMNTS]

New Chip Credit Cards Putting Squeeze on Small Businesses

New debit and credit cards with computer chips are putting the squeeze on small businesses. Businesses of all sizes face an Oct. 1 deadline to get new card readers and software that can handle chips. Most estimates of transition costs for small companies vary from the low hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars due to the wide range of equipment used. If businesses don’t meet the deadline set by companies including MasterCard, Visa and American Express, they can be held liable for transactions made with phony chip cards. The switch poses a threat for small companies because they can’t get the volume discounts on the new equipment that big retailers get. And they don’t have in-house tech experts to install the new systems. [Associated Press]

Consumers Still Confused about their Credit Scores

The vast majority of Americans (90%) recognize the importance of having access to credit. But a significant percentage (52%) of adults do not understand the most influential factors that go into a credit score, and almost 40% do not know their personal credit score. People who consistently check their score have a better perspective of a “good” credit score. Those who had previously checked their scores said 719 was “good” on average, while those who never check their score said it was 668. Of those surveyed, only 37% said their current scores will help them achieve their personal goals. 22% admit they have never taken any steps to improve their score. [LowCards.com]

Synchrony Financial, the $12 billion credit card company spin-off from General Electric, plans a September launch of personalized pricing and other mobile offers for shoppers. Synchrony handles private-label credit cards for Gap and other retailers and merchants. [The Wall Street Journal]

India’s Government Proposes Income Tax Benefits for Debit/Credit Card Payments

India is looking to incentivize the use of debit and credit cards by offering tax rebates to merchant establishments and consumers. The finance ministry has prepared a draft discussion paper proposing benefits such as an appropriate tax rebate or a 1-2% reduction in value added tax for establishments that accept electronic payments. [The Economic Times]

UK Debit Cards are a Scandalously Easy Target for US Fraudsters

According to a large sample of fraud looked at by FICO, the US accounted for almost half of all fraudulent cross-border transactions on UK debit cards during 2014 despite being a distant third on the list of total transactions. FICO didn’t break down US fraud by type in much detail, but the vast majority of these fraudulent transactions were card-not-present frauds carried out from the Internet or by phone. Cross-border fraud is a big deal, accounting for a third of all theft from the 52 million UK cards sampled.[Tech World]

Green Dot Retains Wal-Mart MoneyCard Account

Green Dot reached an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores to continue as the issuing bank for the retailer’s prepaid reloadable debit card program for an additional five years. The companies had worked together on Wal-Mart’s MoneyCard program since its 2006 inception, but Green Dot shares have declined 25% so far this year through Monday’s close, partly on concerns about the possibility of losing the business. The new term, which became effective May 1, replaces an agreement that was already extended to the end of the year. [The Wall Street Journal]

Atom is a New UK Bank That’ll Have No Branches, Just Apps

Atom wants to take mobile banking seriously; so seriously, in fact, that it aims to exist almost solely as a mobile app. The company has just been granted a UK banking licence and plans to launch later this year, first using mobile apps to offer its services before graduating to desktops in due course. Atom will have a 24-hour support team available by phone, email, webchat and social networks, but the idea is you can do everything, even open an account, from within the mobile app. [Engadget]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.62%, slightly higher than last week’s average of 14.60%. Six months ago, the average was 14.46%. One year ago, the average was 14.52%. [LowCards.com]

Almost one in six US consumers (15%) have used a mobile wallet in the past six months, up from 9% in the same period in 2013, and an additional 22% are likely to adopt mobile wallet functionality in the coming six months.Among mobile wallet users, 61% have used PayPal with an average 88% satisfaction rate, 38% have used Amazon (84% satisfaction), 31% have used Starbucks (93% satisfaction), 31% have used Apple Pay (89% satisfaction) and 31% have used Google Wallet (82% satisfaction). [NFC World]

Virgin Money Makes Sex Pistols the Face of its Credit Cards

Sir Richard Branson is reconnecting with his punk rock roots in order to sell credit cards. Virgin Money, the credit card company founded by the British billionaire, is offering U.K. consumers the chance to carry a card featuring art from the Sex Pistol’s 1977 classics: “Never Mind the Bollocks” and “Anarchy in the U.K.” Branson, who got his start in the music business, signed the seminal punk band to his Virgin Records label in the 1970s after seeing them perform at a London club. [CNN Money]

MasterCard Announces Tokenization Support for Private-Label Cards

MasterCard announced that it has become the first payment network to provide tokenization services to private label (store-branded) credit card issuers, enabling merchants to take advantage of the latest digital payment innovations. BJ’s Wholesale Club, Kohl’s and JCPenney will be among the first retailers to bring mobile payments to their private label cardholders later this year. All three retailers now are involved with forthcoming Apple Pay updates this fall. [Mobile Payments Today]

Discount Chain Fred’s Probes Card Breach

Fred’s Inc., a discount general merchandise and pharmacy chain that operates 650 stores in more than a dozen states, disclosed that it is investigating a potential credit card breach. KrebsOnSecurity contacted Fred’s earlier this week, after hearing from multiple financial institutions about a pattern of fraud on customer cards indicating that Fred’s was the latest victim of card-stealing malware secretly installed on point-of-sale systems at checkout lanes. [Krebs on Security]

Discover Closes Mortgage Sector in Favor of Direct Banking

Discover Financial has decided to close its mortgage sector to focus on its direct banking products, including Discover credit cards. The transition will leave approximately 460 employees without work. Discover Home Loans was established in 2012 after a business acquisition, and it will continue to operate under a new owner: AmeriSave Mortgage Company. Discover will be accepting loan applications until July 31. [LowCards.com]

Apple, Google and Samsung Bet on Walletless Future

Apple this week announced enhancements to Apple Pay, which was introduced in the fall, and Google said it will soon launch Android Pay, its Google Wallet successor. Amazon dropped out of the digital wallet race earlier this year but could return. Samsung is about to enter the market after buying Massachusetts-based LoopPay in February. [Top Tech News]

MasterCard, Capital One:Why the Stocks Will Surge

There are many reasons to believe credit card companies will continue to charge ahead. In the U.S., consumers may still feel wary of debt after the pain of the Great Recession, but that hasn’t stopped them from swiping their credit cards: Revolving credit, reflecting mostly credit card debt, climbed at an annual 11.57% rate in April, the second-largest increase since 2009. That’s part of a larger trend that’s been playing out for decades, as both Visa and MasterCard have seen purchase volume on their U.S. credit cards soar well over 100% since 2000 as consumers take on more debt and increasingly use plastic over cash. [Barron's]

Foolish Credit Card Mistakes Travelers Make

58% of Americans take at least one vacation per year. And they’ll spend a lot of money to do so. 42% said they planned to spend $1,500 or more on their next trip. Many travelers who hit the road this summer will be paying with plastic for everything from plane fares to restaurant meals. Credit cards make travel easier in many ways. But credit cards pose risks for vacationers as well. The biggest danger is overspending, a trap that 60% of people fall into. You may decide to splurge on extras while traveling, but you’ll end up paying for it after the trip is over. Here are five more credit card mistakes people should avoid while on vacation. [USA Today]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.60%, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.46%. One year ago, the average was 14.52%. [LowCards.com]

Hackers are going local in their efforts to steal credit card information from customers, hitting small businesses with as much frequency as retail giants. Take Eataly, the operator of more than two dozen upscale food halls in New York, Chicago, Italy, Japan and elsewhere. The company disclosed last month that the systems at its store in the Flatiron district of Manhattan had been breached. The hackers unleashed malicious software into its payment processing system that enabled them to potentially steal customer credit card information for several months of this year. [The New York Times]

Free Credit Monitoring After Data Breaches is More Sucker than Succor

After companies announce they’ve had a data breach, they often offer customers “free credit monitoring services.” But who does this really benefit? When Target and Home Depot announced their mammoth data breaches, the companies offered free credit monitoring to those impacted via services such as ProtectMyID and AllClearID. But this service actually doesn’t help the customers very much, experts say. [MarketWatch]

Apple to Add Cards From Discover, Some Stores to Apple Pay

Apple said it is expanding its Apple Pay mobile-phone payments service to accept Discover credit cards and cards from certain retail stores, such as department-store chains Kohl’s and J.C. Penney, and warehouse club BJ’s Wholesale Club. [The Wall Street Journal]

Google’s Android Pay will not Collect Card Transaction Fees

When Google finally launches Android Pay, its mobile phone payment service, it will not get a cut of the interchange fees on transactions. This is drastically different than Apple Pay. When Apple Pay was introduced, banks and merchants were clamoring to be part of the innovative new payment system. As a result, Apple was able to negotiate a .015% cut of every credit card transaction and a 0.5% fee on debit card purchases. [LowCards.com]

Unfair Credit Card Fees Cripple Local Small Business Owners

Because there are so many transactions these days and the technology is so cheap, it costs the banks only a few pennies every time a customer swipes a card to make a purchase. Yet the banks charge a 500% profit margin on debit cards, according to a recent study using the banks’ own figures, and up to 10,000% on credit cards. That’s a sizable profit compared to those in the supermarket industry, where profit margins are around 1-2%. Banks are able to charge such a pretty penny because Visa and
MasterCard control most of the credit card market, which lets them price-fix swipe fees in secret for their member banks. [AL.com]

Consumers Now Prefer Mobile Banking over Branch Banking

The banking system in America has officially reached a turning point. According to a new report, more consumers prefer mobile banking over branch banking. The study shows that 23% of consumers choose to use their smartphones as a primary access point for their checking accounts, compared to 17% who still prefer to visit the branch. 39% of those surveyed prefer online banking. [LowCards.com]

Uber Continues To Finance Its Drivers With New Gas Credit Card

Ride-hailing service Uber already connects its drivers, even those with bad or no credit, with car loans. Now drivers can also get an Uber credit card. The Uber Fuel Card, issued by MasterCard and FleetCor, will allow qualified drivers to get discounts of up to 15 cents a gallon on gas purchases at thousands of U.S. gas stations, the company said Tuesday.Only drivers who completed 200 rides the previous month (or have done 200 rides in their first month) can use it—a tactic Uber’s vice president of strategic initiatives David Richter called a “driver retention strategy.” [Forbes]

Square Unveils Mobile Wallet-Friendly Credit Card Reader

Square, the payments processing start-up, unveiled a new credit card reader on Monday, one capable of accepting mobile payments like those made through Apple Pay and Android Pay. The new reader, which Square said will be widely available this fall, operates wirelessly for merchants who want to accept contact-less mobile payments. It also accepts so-called EMV credit cards, a technology that includes a chip built into credit cards for added security. Square said the new reader will cost $49. [The New York Times]

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.60%, slightly higher than last week’s average of 14.55%. Six months ago, the average was 14.46%. One year ago, the average was 14.48%. [LowCards.com]

]]>http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/12/this-week-in-credit-card-news-hackers-hit-small-businesses-is-credit-monitoring-benefical/feed/1Time Warp: Warren Buffett on the Stock Market, circa 1999http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/10/time-warp-warren-buffett-on-the-stock-market-circa-1999/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/10/time-warp-warren-buffett-on-the-stock-market-circa-1999/#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 16:59:00 +0000http://blogs.forbes.com/moneybuilder/?p=33640Warren Buffett doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about “the market,” and he certainly doesn’t try to time it. As a “bottom-up” investor that looks at individual companies, that’s not his game.

Or at least that’s what you think. The truth is, Mr. Buffett has had quite a bit to say over the years about “the market.” Buffett is no dummy. He’s well aware that as the market goes, so go the valuations of the vast majority of stocks that make up the market, including his own, Berkshire Hathaway.

I’ll never forget an article he wrote for Fortune in 1999 (see “Mr. Buffett on the Stock Market”). I was a senior in college…and already dreaming of making millions in the stock market. It was the 1990s, and anything ending with “dot com” was an instant goldmine.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, right, looks at his Vice Chairman Charlie Munger during an interview with Liz Claman on the Fox Business Network in Omaha, Neb., Monday, May 4, 2015. The annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting took place the previous Saturday in Omaha with over 40,000 in attendance. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

When Warren Buffett—a man I considered a hero—had the audacity to say that stock returns going forward would be disappointing, I felt betrayed…even insulted. Clearly the old man had lost his touch.

Naturally, I didn’t listen to the Sage of Omaha…and I lost a lot of money as a result in the crash that quickly followed. It was a lesson well learned.

But Buffett’s words sixteen years ago are every bit as insightful today as they were then. Buffett argued that in order for investors to earn anything close to historical returns in the market the following two conditions would have to hold:

Interest rates must fall further.

Corporate profitability in relation to GDP must rise.

In 1999, Buffett considered both of those scenarios unlikely, though he acknowledged that “If government interest rates, now at a level of about 6%, were to fall to 3%, that factor alone would come close to doubling the value of common stocks.”

Well, rates have obviously fallen a lot further than that, and the market hasn’t exactly doubled from 1999 levels. The market is up about 40% from the old dot-com-era high. But Buffett’s point was well made. Lower rates have allowed for much higher stock valuations.

On the second count, corporate profits, the ever-quotable Buffett wrote:

You know, someone once told me that New York has more lawyers than people. I think that’s the same fellow who thinks profits will become larger than GDP. When you begin to expect the growth of a component factor to forever outpace that of the aggregate, you get into certain mathematical problems. In my opinion, you have to be wildly optimistic to believe that corporate profits as a percent of GDP can, for any sustained period, hold much above 6%.

Well, so much for that. As you can see in the chart, courtesy of the St. Louis Fed, corporate profits have now nearly doubled the levels that Buffett believed to be unsustainable.

But while Buffett might have been a little off on the numbers, his logic was pretty solid. Companies cannot continue to take an ever-bigger slice of the economic pie. Eventually, this creates political backlash, as we see today. The basic laws of economics also start to rain on the parade. High profits attract competition…which crimps margins and ultimately lowers profits.

Today, market rates across the yield curve are near historic lows. They cannot realistically go much lower, unless temporarily during a crisis. And at the same time, corporate profits as a percentage of GDP are at all-time highs. None of this means the market is due to crash tomorrow, but it tells me that we should have realistic expectations about future returns. A strategy of buying and holding U.S. equities isn’t likely to offer much in the way of returns going forward. If you’re going to earn anything resembling a respectable return, plan on taking a more tactical approach and looking outside your normal comfort zones.

My advice is to focus on absolute returns strategies and on generating cold, hard cash in the form of dividends. To the extent you look for “beta” risk in the market, focus overseas. Valuations are far more reasonable in Europe and in most emerging markets.

Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is chief investment officer of the investment firm Sizemore Capital Management and the author of the Sizemore Insights blog.

]]>http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/10/time-warp-warren-buffett-on-the-stock-market-circa-1999/feed/13 Politically Incorrect Steps to Achieve an Early Retirementhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/10/3-politically-incorrect-steps-to-achieve-an-early-retirement/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/06/10/3-politically-incorrect-steps-to-achieve-an-early-retirement/#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 12:50:00 +0000http://blogs.forbes.com/moneybuilder/?p=33636I like my job. I really do. But I think I’d like being an independently-wealthy man of leisure quite a bit more. Relaxed days of sweet nothingness sound pretty appealing. That’s the dream, anyway.

All joking aside, I won’t be joining the ranks of the retired any time soon. I think it’s important that I teach my kids by example, so even were I to win the lottery tomorrow, I would still trudge to the office every morning. They need to see their dad working rather than watching TV with a growing pile of crushed beer cans beside him on the couch.

But we all like to have options, and there is a certain peace of mind of mind that comes with being able to retire early. It’s a lot easier to take pleasure in your work when you have the financial freedom to walk away. At that point, it becomes a choice, not an obligation.

So with that in mind, today I’m going to offer three steps to get you on the path to early retirement. Any of these actions taken alone will certainly get you on your way. But taken together, they make those lazy afternoons in a beach chair a lot more achievable.

Step 1: Win The Lottery

If you want to make your early retirement happen today, stop by a convenience store on your way home from work and buy a lottery ticket.

I’m joking, of course. I can proudly say that I’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life. There’s something about them that reeks a little of desperation. But there are principles here that we can definitely put to work.

Think about the risk/return tradeoff of a lottery ticket. You risk a dollar or two for the possibility of winning millions. Some of the very best traders employ the very same mentality. They look for opportunities with massive upside and only limited downside.

Taleb had a peculiar trading strategy that drove his managers crazy. He would consistently lose small amounts of money. At the risk of oversimplifying, Taleb was buying cheap options that would expire worthless barring a major market move. Those moves don’t happen often, so Taleb lost money month after month…right up until he didn’t. Taleb made enough money during the 1987 market crash to walk away from the game and spend the rest of his life writing snarky books and articles.

I’m not suggesting you trade options like Taleb. But I am suggesting that you look for opportunities with similar characteristics: limited downside, unlimited upside. Or as legendary value investor Mohnish Pabrai puts it, “Heads, you win. Tails, you don’t lose too much.”

And those opportunities don’t have to be in the stock market. You might stumble across a great small business opportunity that offers the same asymmetric payoff.

Step 2: Marry a Wealthy Person

The quickest way to early retirement is to marry a rich person.

Again, I’m joking, of course. There are a finite number of wealthy and available people, and society tends to frown on gold diggers.

And the benefits are not always guaranteed. As an example, dirty old men in Brazil got some devastating news this year. Up until this year, surviving spouses were entitled to their deceased spouse’s pension for the remainder of their lives…even if they remarried. A 20-year-old woman could marry a man old enough to be her grandfather and then be set for life once he croaked. Unfortunately for Brazil’s would-be sugar daddies, under reformed rules surviving spouses under the age of 44 will only be entitled to three years of pension payments.

But while marrying for money is not as easy as it used to be, marriage is still a critical factor in long-term wealth accumulation. Two people living together will have lower living expenses than two people living apart. All else equal, this means more cash available to save for early retirement.

Of course, on the flip side, divorce is ridiculously expensive and can set back your retirement plans by decades. So, if you want to retire early, get married…and stay married.

There are also lifestyle considerations. Two working spouses will make a substantially higher income than just one. Having a parent stay at home to raise the kids might be a priority for you, but it comes at a real financial cost. That’s something you have to consider.

As a practical piece of advice, whether you have a one-income or two-income household, try to live on just one salary. That way, if one spouse takes time off to raise the kids, you have less of an adjustment financially. And when your spouse eventually returns to work, you can sock back their entire salary in retirement savings.

Hey, it’s not as quick as marrying a millionaire. But it will still get you to early retirement.

Step 3: Stiff the IRS

You want to retire early? Quit paying income taxes.

Again, joking. Evading taxes with get you an “early retirement” of sorts, but it might be spent in federal prison.

All the same, legally lowering your taxable footprint is one of the smartest and easiest things you can do to get on the path to early retirement. Every dollar in taxes avoided is a dollar saved to get you one step closer to that beach chair in the sand.

Let’s pick the low hanging fruit first. If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, you can save $18,000 per year. If you’re 50 or older you can bump that up by $6,000 to $24,000. If your employer is generous and matches, that might be worth another $6,000 or so. That gets you to $30,000. And if your spouse works and contributes to their own 401(k) plan, you can double that amount to $60,000 per year…shielded from taxes.

If you are self-employed or work as a 1099 contractor, it gets even better. You can put as much as $53,000 per person into a solo 401(k) or SEP IRA if you meet the income requirements.